At 06:38 PM 1/26/96 -0800, Rich Graves wrote:

On Fri, 26 Jan 1996, jim bell wrote:

...

On the other hand, this would be an EXCELLENT "argument" to bring in front of a Congressional committee considering the adoption of any V-chip type proposal. Once they discover that a ratings system could be used for the diametrically opposite reasons of their reason for having it in the first place, they'll try to modify their proposal to prevent this.

If we're lucky, this'll have the effect of killing the whole concept of government-sponsored (required?) V-chip-type technology.

OTOH, I agree with other posters who think that truly voluntary content selection would be an excellent addition to television: In effect, an automatic, programmable TV-Guide search engine.

While it's hard to find a general theme here, I think I disagree.

What? You mean you LIKE to read TV guide every week, cover to cover, in advance, to scedule your TV viewing habits?

Anyway, I don't think that even truly voluntary content selection is a good idea, because it reduces art to numbers, which is wrong.

Aw, admit it. You're just still pissed 'cause I called you a f------ statist. <G>> Me, I'd like to be able to tell my "TV-Guide search engine" to: 1. Look for this particular show or movie. 2. Look for this particular star, director, or other participant.. 3. Follow a subject thread, say on the news. 4. etc. Maybe even a more complex (artificially intelligent) agent that "knows" me well enough to anticipate my desires.

lead to a balkanization that diminishes the common culture. I think it was good the way network TV was limited to the lowest common denominator, but with variety. People who wanted something with a little more flavor than WonderBread [tm] were able to find it, but they did have to look, which often involved *meeting other people* with common interests, and they still tuned in to Ed Sullivan to see what the Joneses were watching. Give people 1024 bits' worth of channels to choose from, classified by arbitrary criteria involving no human contact, and you get something entirely different. I'm not sure what's happening now, but I don't think I like it.

You're entitled to NOT like it. But I'm equally entitled to use modern technology to sift through 60+ cable channels, or 300+ DSS-type channels.